Many enterprise computing systems require a central management system to control and manage the maintenance of a large number of distributed client devices. The central management system establishes maintenance schedules dictating the date and time that a maintenance event will take place. A maintenance event takes place during a set period of time, referred to as the maintenance window, and requires the central management system to download a maintenance related file to the client device and instruct the client device to install and execute the maintenance file.
The download and installation processes tax the resources of the client device. For that reason, the maintenance window may be scheduled during an off-peak time for the client device so that the client device is not occupied or utilized during primary production times. A large portion of the maintenance window may be taken up by the downloading phase of the maintenance event, particularly in instances when the maintenance file is large. In some cases, the download phase may take over half the time of the maintenance window, leaving a shortened period of remaining time for installation and execution of the maintenance file before the close of the maintenance window. As the sophistication and size of enterprise computing systems continues to increase, efficient management of maintenance schedules and optimization of maintenance window usage to facilitate a more expeditious return to production continues to be a priority.